Bond
by Melanyholland
Summary: Tony had never been a sentimental or protective guy, but it was different with Effy. With her, everything was different.


**Title: **Bond

**Author: **Melanyholland

**Summary:** Tony had never been a sentimental or protective guy, but it was different with Effy. With her, everything was different.

**Rating:** T

**Timeline:** before season one

**Main Characters:** Tony and Effy Stonem

**Feedback: **really appreciated, thanks.^^

**Note:** this is a translation of one of my Italian stories. I'm sorry if there are some mistakes, feel free to tell me if you find them.

**Bond**

"E guarirai da tutte le malattie, perché sei un essere speciale, ed io avrò cura di te."

_La Cura_, Franco Battiato

03:35 am

The party had been quite amusing.

The pills brought by Chris were amazing, they had given him a kaleidoscopic and three-dimensional trip and had made him laugh like a retarded when a guy threw up on Sid's t-shirt.

An attractive blonde with high heels had performed an absolutely hot strip-tease on the table of the living room, throwing her red lacy bra at him and then herself into his lap, kissing him fiercely on the mouth. Michelle had been so lost in her own trip that she hadn't noticed anything and later had had sex with him, letting him do her against the wall of the kitchen.

Yes, it had been a great party. He had come back home feeling satisfied and good-humoured, but his joy extinguished at once when he peeked in Effy's room and found it empty. She hadn't come back yet.

Tony knew his sister was smart, incredibly intelligent and surprisingly cunning. Her qualities were clearly visible with only one look at her insolent blue eyes and her prim and proper school uniform wasn't able to hide them and her uniqueness. He had been always well aware of the fact that sooner or later she would have fled from the imprisonment she was forced to by their parents, because nothing could stop Effy, she was like a rebellious sparkle and none can keep the light in their fists.

Still, Tony felt discomfort when he didn't see her under the sheets and he couldn't hold back the sharp disappointment at the thought that she hadn't informed him. Which was silly, because Effy usually didn't talk and when she did, it was definitely not to ask for permissions or to justify her actions, but he couldn't help it.

He shrugged and reached his room. Tony Stonem was far away from being a sentimental and anxious guy, he kept repeating himself, and Effy Stonem was a girl who could take care of herself, even thought she was fourteen, alone and who-knows-where at late night. She could do something stupid, of course, but she would land on her feet, because that was what always happened. To both of them. There was no reason to worry, their _father _would be concerned, but their father wasn't able to see anything and he had never known the real Effy.

So Tony went to bed. She would return, sooner or later.

No problem.

Everything was okay.

04:51 am

Suddenly, Sid and Michelle came to his mind.

Everybody would agree that they were two people very important to him. Sid was his best friend after all, and Michelle his girlfriend. But Tony had never felt the need to take care of them.

In fact, Sid was often useful, for instance when Tony needed someone who took the blame for his mistakes, like when he was a child and had broken the window of his father's car with a ball; or when he needed someone who obeyed him without protesting, like a few days before, when he had told him to go helping Michelle with her boring shopping for the party.

Speaking of Michelle, he liked being with her, she was the hottest girl he knew and she was also nice and witty. But Tony didn't feel guilty for the kiss with the strip-tease blonde, or for the oral sex with Mary-Beth, the flautist of the school band, or for the quick shag with White Justin while Michelle was shopping with Sid. On the contrary, he had had fun. A lot. After all, these episodes didn't mean anything. Michelle was still his girlfriend and she, who loved him, was happy.

"You're my Hera," he had said her that evening after the sex, while he was still on pills.

"Hm?"

"Hera. The greek goddess. Zeus' wife."

Michelle, who wasn't lucid herself, had giggled cheerily, stroking her hair with a hand.

"Because I'm as beautiful as a goddess?" she had winked sensually at him, and Tony had smiled.

"Of course." He had answered affably, because he had realized that explaining the comparison wasn't a good idea after all. Perhaps it had been a twisted way of protecting her, but Tony didn't honestly believe that.

His best friend.

His girlfriend.

Shit. It was already five.

05:24 am

Tony had dozed off, but only for a short time. Now he suddenly remembered something unpleasant, a memory he usually didn't like to think of.

It had happened a year before. Effy had come back from school late and their parents had believed her lie about a painting class. Tony had immediately noticed that something was different about Effy, mainly because she hadn't glanced at him and she always did it when she came back or during the meals.

They made these secret gestures of acknowledgment, a way of communicating which was only theirs. They smirked and looked at each other for a second and none seemed to notice. Doing this sort of thing with anybody else would make him feel stupid, but Effy was Effy. And with her acumen she understood that words were often overestimated.

At dinner, Tony had noticed her flinching a little when she had sit. A movement imperceptible for the most, but Tony hadn't missed it. And while their father was going on and on with his endless chatters, Tony's mind had come up with a slightly disturbing idea, although he knew it would be unavoidable at some point.

Afterwards he had gone to her room. He had found Effy sitting on her bed, playing with a lighter.

"What have you done today?" he had asked, with casualness.

Effy had shrugged.

"Have you had sex?" he had insisted in the same calm tone. Effy had looked at him with her big blue eyes, studying him for a moment, then she had nodded, serenely.

"With who?"

Another shrug. Tony hadn't minded -he had been able to find out it himself later- and he hadn't been surprised. Of course many people had noticed how incredibly beautiful she was.

He had wanted to say many things.

_Okay_ was all he had said, before leaving her room. His sister was right, words were unnecessary. And if she was happy, who was he to go against her decisions?

After all, sex _was_ fun.

Tony turned over in bed. Effy was free and Effy was smart and Effy was brilliant. Surely she was at some party, enjoying herself like and how far she wanted to. Because Effy wouldn't allow anybody to take advantage of her, she was superior to all the brats she hanged around with and she used for fun. She let them _touch_ her, but nobody could _reach_ her.

Tony liked thinking he could do the latter. Maybe a little and at her conditions, but it happened. Sometimes.

But he really didn't understand why the hell she wasn't there yet.

06:01 am

Sid. Michelle.

If it had been necessary, he would have sacrificed them for Effy?

Tony shook his head because slumber made his thoughts out of control and he was thinking nonsense. Unfortunately he had to admit that he was worried. He wanted Effy there, _immediately_. He wanted to see her insolent eyes, even though she would notice the shadows under his and understand that he had been anxious all night like a perfect idiot. He was tempted to call her on her mobile phone, but it would be simply too humiliating. He was Tony, not a needy pussy.

He didn't want her to think he was pathetic.

O6:43 am

Tony had come to blows with a boy when he was twelve. The bully had pushed down Effy from the teeter-trotter, sullying her face and her yellow dress with mud. He hadn't made her cry, but when Tony had noticed the cut on her thin knee he had seen red.

During the fight, Effy had watched him uninterested, without blinking twice even when he got hit on the cheekbone.

But that night she had cuddled up against him in his bed.

Effy was like that.

07:03 am

"You and Effy seem very close to each other." Michelle had said during a lazy afternoon of September.

"You think?" he had answered, lifting his eyebrows.

"I bet she speaks to you." She had guessed, admiring herself with her new miniskirt on the mirror, checking the effect of the fabric on her delicious ass.

Tony had put his arms around her from behind, making her smile and turn her head.

"Cute," he had said, brushing the cotton hem of her skirt and so caressing her thighs. Michelle had kissed him and for a while they hadn't talked much.

He didn't like speaking of Effy with Michelle. Actually, he didn't talk about their relationship with anybody. It was special and secret like their glances and smiles; like those tender acts they had for each other now and then; like Effy herself, who was always a mystery for everybody, but sometimes not for him.

Tony would do anything for her, he realized, and the he thought he sounded like the soppy heroes in their mother's favourite love novels, or like the main character of a old juke-box song. If his friends had heard him saying something like this, they would have mocked him mercilessly for the rest of his life. Effy surely would have done it.

But it was painfully true.

He was still trying to sleep when he heard the sound of an opening door and steps on the staircase. He smiled, an ironic smirk to himself but also –he couldn't deny it- an expression of honest relief.

He hadn't phoned her, but he couldn't resist going into her room. Effy was wearing a dark, scanty dress, her hair was tousled and her black mascara had melt around her eyes, which looked at him with surprise when he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"I've just come back from Michelle's party." He whispered. Effy smirked and said nothing. She sit in front of the mirror, grabbed a paper handkerchief and started cleaning her face.

"Have you had fun?"

She nodded, coldly, brushing the tissue on her lips to get rid of the smeared lipstick. He smiled.

"I'm glad."

He stared at her, who was proud, glacial, stunning even with her shabby appearance and her make-up ruined. Effy's profile was that of a queen portrayed on a coin.

Tony realized he didn't have to protect her from the world, because she could have the world at her feet. But he wouldn't stop trying to take care of her, he also realized with extreme clarity. Because they seemed very close, like Michelle had said, and above all because they actually were.

Effy stopped removing her make-up to look into his eyes, blue into the blue.

He didn't need to tell her he had been worried, because she already knew it.

She didn't need to tell him she would do it again, because he already knew it.

So, what Tony whispered was:

"We'll make a plan in case they wake up before your return."

And what Effy did was smiling at him in that special way.

Everything was okay.

_Finally_.

**End**


End file.
